Diabetes-induced impairment in visual function in mice: contributions of p38 MAPK, rage, leukocytes, and aldose reductase.

Purpose: Visual function is impaired in diabetes, but molecular causes of this dysfunction are not clear. We assessed effects of diabetes on visual psychophysics in mice, and tested the effect of therapeutic approaches reported previously to inhibit vascular lesions of the retinopathy.

Methods: We used the optokinetic test to assess contrast sensitivity and spatial frequency threshold in diabetic C57Bl/6J mice and age-matched nondiabetic controls between 2 and 10 months of diabetes.